Zurriola
Oh, Japan… how I’ve missed you. After cancelling our visit in March 2020 and then cancelling a subsequent 2 attempts to rebook, we were finally able to return. This time with a 2 year old toddler in tow. As you can imagine, traveling anywhere is very different with children, so our itinerary looked very different from previous trips. Luckily, we had some help on the trip and that afforded us a couple of opportunities to steal away for a couple of late evening reservations
Our first visit to Japan post-pandemic fell in the same timeframe as our last trip in 2019… in the peak of cherry blossom season in Tokyo. Not only did we visit during arguably the busiest time of year for tourists, but Japan being closed for years has built up an enormous demand. Needless to say, Tokyo was packed and almost everywhere we went had throngs of tourists and long lines. The flood of tourists also meant stiff competition for the top restaurants in the city. This combined with limited schedule flexibility due to our little one meant I didn’t get to visit some of my wish list restaurants on this trip, but we did manage to swing a couple of Michelin-rated meals.
First stop was the Spanish-influenced Zurriola in the Ginza area. I booked us in a small private room to have a more relaxing experience. Here is what we had during our visit on March 29, 2023:
Chorizo tart / Toasted bread filled with Spanish olive oil
Fried bamboo shoot with mojo verde
Tapas: Clam with pepper
Tapas (continued): Conger eel in a creamy sauce | Hair crab souffle
Octopus, mousse, Spanish pancetta
White asparagus, foie gras, Pedro Ximenez
Smoked caviar, “Ezo” abalone, scent of Txakoli
Snap pea stew, firefly squid
Boiled ray fin, “PilPil” sauce, fennel foam
Charcoal grilled Japanese beef, olive sauce, mushroom, parsley cream
“Gateau Basque” of Chinese lantern fruit
Goat milk ice cream, salt milk mousse, “Dulce de leche”
Homemade chocolates
Sadly, we were rather underwhelmed by our experience at Zurriola. None of the food was bad, but nothing really seemed to stand out or be exceptional which is a shame to say for a restaurant with 2 Michelin stars. We also found the plating and food preparation to be rather dated. Even the chef’s “signature dish” of smoked caviar and abalone was flawed in a few ways. I love smokey flavors but the smoke on the caviar was way too overpowering (blowing out the palate) and the entire dish was very aggressively salty. The most confusing dish of the night to me was the snap pea stew. It felt like it wasn’t salted and the firefly squid an afterthought as it didn’t incorporate into the dish at all.
Our servers were perfectly nice and tried their best to explain dishes to us in English, but the pace of dinner and food coming from the kitchen was very slow. Dinner took the better part of 3.5 hours with very noticeable lulls between certain courses.
When comparing this to other Michelin meals we’ve had, I’d say that Zurriola is second from the bottom in terms of 2-Michelin star restaurants we’ve been to. Overall, I’d say it’s a relatively “weak” 1-Michelin star at best.
Zurriola
4F, Kojun Building
6-8-7 Ginza
Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Ph: +81-3-3289-5331
http://zurriola.jp
